Pumpkins mean family fun — whether your gang likes pick-your-own patches and mazes or festivals with bounce houses and amusement park rides.
For families around Atlanta, there is an array of promising pumpkin happenings this fall.
Here are 11 of the best places to find pumpkins and celebrate the harvest:
The Kinsey Family Farm
8 a.m.-5 p.m. Monday-Friday; 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, open every day through Oct. 31
$3 hayrides
7170 Jot-em Down Road, Gainesville. 770-887-6028
Choose your pumpkin, even red, white or green varieties! Hayrides add to the fun, as do pumpkin bread and pumpkin rolls available at the onsite country store.
Stone Mountain Park Pumpkin Festival
10:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday-Sunday; 10:30 a.m.-7 p.m Saturday with a laser show at 8 p.m. Now until Oct. 29
Adventure Pass tickets, online: $28.95 adults, $26.95 children; at the park: $31.95 adults, $26.95 children
1000 Robert E. Lee Blvd., Stone Mountain. 800-401-2407
This is a theme park with a pumpkins experience. Highlights include a parade, pie-eating contest and storytelling. Amusement park admission is included in one price, so this is a full day of harvest-time fun.
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Credit: Hyosub Shin
Noon-6 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-6 p.m.-Sunday in October
Free admission and parking; hayrides $4, bounce house $3, corn maze $4; pumpkins individually priced
2100 Sugar Pike Road, Woodstock. 678-899-3900
Take a hayride to the patch and then pick out a pumpkin in the big barn. There are farm animals, bounce house, face painting, and a corn maze.
»RELATED: Fear factor: 11 fright-filled Halloween events in Atlanta
9 a.m.-6 p.m. every day though Oct. 31, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. every day Nov. 1-10 for you slowpokes.
Free parking and admission. Hayrides $6.
5 Burts Pumpkin Farm Road, Dawsonville. 706-265-3701
Located near Amicalola Falls, Burt’s has your pumpkin, from tiny to truly tremendous. The two mile hayride will put you in a country frame of mind. The country store can reinforce that fine feeling with pumpkin pies, squash, and all important decorating items such as hay bales.
Yule Forest
Mon.-Fri. 4 p.m.-7 p.m., Sat.-Sun 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Through Oct. 31
Adults, children $10
3565 Hwy. 155 N, Stockbridge. 770-954-9356
A petting zoo, puppet show, hay maze and a whole lot more make this an extra special place to procure a pumpkin. Come back for a Christmas tree starting Thanksgiving day.
»RELATED: 5 of the top haunted houses for Atlantans with no scare threshold
Berry Patch Farms
Weekdays 3:30 p.m.-7 p.m. Oct. 16-Oct. 27, 10 a.m.-7 p.m. weekends Oct. 29.
$3 parking on weekends
786 Arnold Mill Road, Woodstock. 770-926-0561
Use directions from this page versus MapQuest or Yahoo
Take a hayride to the pumpkin patch and bring your selections back. Don't leave without sampling the cider and fried pies and visiting the playground and baby farm animals. They even sell the kind of pumpkin you can cooking in your pies this season!
9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 12:30 p.m.-5:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 1-31
Free to visit the pumpkin patch
3379 Tails Creek Road, Ellijay. 706–635-5898
Pick your own pumpkin out of the field or out of the pile of pumpkins and then pick up a game of horseshoes or corn hole. This is a nice time for a family picnic, too, but you'll need to bring your own or buy some of the snacks they sell.
Closed Mondays. Tues.-Fri. 2-6 p.m., Sat.-Sun 10 a.m.-6 p.m. through Oct. 31
Hayride, corn maze and kid zone, $12 person, 3 and under free; pumpkins individually priced; family photo packages begin at $80
628 Sleepy Hollow Road, Powder Springs. 770-880-8846
Besides having the perfect name for the season, Sleepy Hollow Farm has pumpkin picking, hay rides, farm animals and a corn maze.
Jaemor Farms
Weekends during October. Check here for pumpkin patch hours, which vary throughout the month and here for corn maze hours and dates.
$14 for unlimited hay rides, corn maze, pumpkin train and more, or buy tickets for single attractions. Parking, pumpkin patch, free.
5340 Cornelia Hwy, Alto. 770-869-3999
Enjoy the fruits of almost 120 acres of pumpkin patch. Jaemor has a large farm market filled with local harvest and prepared foods.
Fridays 4 p.m.-dark, Saturdays, 10 a.m.-dark, Sundays, 1-6 p.m.
Pumpkin patch and sunflower fields free. $14 adults and kids, $10 kids age 2-4 for corn maze, petting zoo, pig races, grain train and even more activities than you can shake a cornstalk at.
5691 Hog Mountain Road, Bogart. 706-769-0627.
UGA fans, Bogart is near Athens, can you see where we're (you're) going with this? If you're looking for a really big pumpkin they'll loan you a wheelbarrow!
Sat.-Sun. 10 a.m.-dusk through October 29.
Pumpkin shopping is free. $15 adults and kids over 4, 4 and under free.
5630 Macland Road, Powder Springs. 678-283-695
In the fall, the Still family hosts Corn on the Cobb. There’s a pumpkin patch, of course, along with a hay ride. Kids can climb on a mountain of hay bales, roll around in barrels and race rubber duckies. There’s old tractors and a small train and a non-traditional maze, not so much a maize maze if you catch our drift.
About the Author
